How to know which slot is a winner – The types of progressive slot games explained

There’s a big chance you’ve seen a slot machine at some stage in your life. They’re one of the first things shown in a movie about casinos, they’re present in pubs and chippers all across the UK and chances are you’ve seen advertisements for slot apps or progressive slots online. As easily as they are recognisable, there can sometimes be a bit of confusion as to how to play them. Here you can learn about the different types of progressive slots online.

How to Play Slot Games Online

If you’ve ever seen a slot machine in the movies then chances are you know the basic idea of playing them. You put your money in, choose your stake to bet (Sometimes as low as 1p, sometimes as big as £100) and either pull the lever or press the button and watch the reels spin. You then hope that when they stop that you have matching symbols

The classic cliché of a win at a casino is having 3 reels stop at 7 or a cherry symbol, resulting in a big payout for the player. While this is the case for some slots, there is a huge variety of different games that have different rules and different ways of winning. Some will allow you diagonal matches, some will allow zig-zag matches, some will allow you to hold “Bonus” numbers to allow you to play a special “Side” game. The main idea with slots however, is to keep playing and hope to strike lucky.

Types of Progressive Slots

Single-Machine Progressives: These are also known as “Stand-alone” machines and do just that, stand alone. They have a jackpot that gets bigger and bigger the more they are played until someone wins the big one and it resets to zero. If you finish playing on a stand alone and the jackpot is at £1,000, then that will be the starting jackpot value for the next player on that machine. This would be your standard lonely slot machine you see in your local pub.

Proprietary/Linked Progressives: These are probably the most common types of slots in live casinos and in online casinos in the UK. They have the same basic idea of the single-machine progressives where there is an increasing jackpot the more the games are played. The difference is that the jackpot is shared amongst a number of slots. Let’s say there are 5 slot machines that are connected that are being played simultaneously by 5 people. The jackpot grows and grows as the games are being played until the person on the 5th person wins the jackpot. They get the winnings and the jackpot counter on all 5 machines is reset to zero. This increases the chance of the jackpot being won but also adds in the curveball that someone else could win it while you are playing.

Wide Area Progressive: This type of progressive slot machine works in the same way as a linked progressive but, as the name suggests, operates over a wide area. This means that the linked machines are not connected to one casino but to multiple. Online slots could be considered wide are progressive but only if they were slots linked from multiple different online casino websites.

Progressive Slot Machine Tips

Keep a Look out for Promotions: There are a lot of UK online casinos that have promotions on their slots games. They may offer either a certain amount of free spins, a matched bet spin or even some bonus betting money when you first sign up. It’s wise to read the terms and conditions however, as you may have to play for a certain amount of spins before you can cash out.

Watch The Jackpots: As mentioned before, the jackpot increases the more a game is played. This makes it unlikely for a game that has just had it’s jackpot won and reset, to have a big payout any time soon. Try and keep an eye out for games that have been won recently and jackpots that have been building up for a while to know whether to play or not.

Bet What You Can Afford: Slot Machines, like any other casino games, lose their appeal when you lose what you shouldn’t. The main way to avoid this is to bet what you can afford and have fun.